A new, year-round route between Montreal and Madrid will launch next May as part of Air Canada’s expanded international summer 2024 flying schedule. The airline plans to operate 100 percent of its peak summer 2019 trans-Atlantic capacity next year, taking full advantage of the robust recovery in its largest international market.

Highlights of the new schedule include:

• New year-round route between Montreal and Madrid
• Expanded service to Italy, includes three daily flights to Rome
• Earlier seasonal start-ups from Montreal to Amsterdam and Copenhagen, and from Toronto to Brussels and Edinburgh

“Air Canada saw a tremendous rebound in international flying this past summer, particularly on the trans-Atlantic, and we expect Europe will remain popular next year. In anticipation of this, we are expanding our flying schedule to offer customers more choice and flexibility as they begin to plan their 2024 holidays,” said airline executive VP Mark Galardo.

He added, “The centrepiece of today’s announcement is our new Montreal-Madrid flight. This will be the only year-round service between Montreal and the Spanish capital, complementing our long-standing Toronto-Madrid flights, and offering compelling options for leisure customers and also returning business travellers.”

Air Canada’s Montreal-Madrid service will be operated five days a week on 255-seat Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft.

Overall, Air Canada will operate 51 routes to 30 cities in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and India across the Atlantic in summer 2024.

Air Canada’s Toronto and Montreal hubs will respectively rank third and fifth largest in North America, in terms of average daily trans-Atlantic seats; the airline says it is committed to further developing both hubs’ trans-Atlantic footprint in the coming years.

Transatlantic, Italy

In response to projected strength in leisure demand, Air Canada will also expand frequencies to popular Mediterranean destinations and bring forward the start-up of several seasonal European services next summer.

“We are excited to announce a significant expansion of our service offering to Italy, with a combined three daily flights from Toronto and Montreal to Rome, as well as daily services to Milan and Venice. This underpins the importance of Italy in Air Canada’s global network, as we are the largest carrier between Canada and Italy, and the only one connecting the two countries on a year-round basis,” said Galardo.

Key increases in Air Canada’s trans-Atlantic services for summer 2024 include: